Alive!!!
Yes, I am. Very much so, actually. So much so that long stretches at the computer while being self-reflective or self-indulgent have been practically nonexistent. Maybe I should consider being a smidge more self-involved in these public forums since I've received ... many ... emails/phone calls to be sure I am not only merely breathing but really, most sincerely alive.
My humblest apologies is you count yourself among that increasing number.
Since it's been way too long since I wrote in this thing to even begin to cover details of the past few months, I'm just going to skip to the trailer-versions.
June - school's out, B's folks out of hospital, Girl Scout end-of-year party/awards ceremony went off well, 31st b'day come & enjoyed & gone, niece turned 4, massive preparations in full swing to get Ala off to scout camp for a week though future trips should be significantly less time/labor intensive due to several items being only necessary for initial trips or repeatedly only every 2-4 yrs, get roof replaced and manage to not draw blood.
July - Ala off to camp, recognize that I miss seeing piles of my family as it's been over 5-7 yrs for some sectors, help sis look for new housing & cope w/ BiL's medical retirement, spend 2 of 4 days w/o Ala with my 2 nieces - bringing them to Austin to sleep over, seeing movies, and visiting Zilker to ride the train, decide to plan massive Lampoon-esque road trip, plan road trip, d/w breaks so order new d/w and better fridge since it's old too, oven goes bust before d/w & fridge can even be delivered, begin road trip to MS and visit grandparents then to AR to visit grandparents /then/ to CO to visit parents, begin gaming w/ K & S, V & J, B, and maybe S in a campaign led by N though I have some doubts about my personal abilities due to inexperience in this particular style of RPG.
August - return from epic road trip having enjoyed it a ton, not killed Ala, and having tiptoed through no less than 4 brew pubs in the process, also recognize mannerism similarities between my mom & sis while also noticing (and having B & Mom point out) similarities in personality between my mom & me - all involved in discussions feel this is scientifically significant in the argument of nature vs nurture, on trip back to TX I am forced to cope w/ a completely dead laptop battery - as in after 3.5 yrs it doesn't work /at all/ anymore so about a week after return I celebrate the resurrection of my now-flooded email inbox, brainstorm for new GS year & meet w/ T twice to begin planning, enjoy an 'end of summer' outdoor movie night @ T's for the troop where she selects 'Labyrinth' from my pile of suggestions, subsequently deal with thoughts from most of my Scouts that I'm possibly odder than they first thought, enjoy 1st session of new RPG group though still uncertain of my innate ability to function well in this particular style since I'm basically a 'dungeon crawler', go to 5th grade open house & meet Ala's new teacher, take over as 'official' assistant troop leader, assume title & responsibilities of our area's service unit community service coordinator, get most of the back to school shopping done including the addition this year of bras for the child, take in sis's cat as return to 5 cat household in further assistance in dealing w/ BiL's retirement, take up Wii-Fit.
So, school starts Mon. The new cat is settling in nicely ... though she's not yet been allowed free house privileges w/ all 4 others unsupervised yet since her kitty-hysterectomy is still healing up a bit. I'm excited about Scouts and school. I'm once again reconsidering returning to school and am giving a bit more thought to /what/ since I'll pretty much have to start from scratch which actually opens up a lot of things I'd not really given much weight to before. I need to consider the oven replacement eventually ... though I'm not in the mood yet. Treatments going well, though my red #s are 'up' I am still on the flat bottom edge of tolerable and my K is yet /again/ low ... enough so that I may end up on a supplement this time through - blech. Since I'm not much one for waitintg to make a forced resolution come 12/31, I'm now personally committing in writing, publicly, to develop and cultivate a better attitude towards supplements and to make daily conscious & proactive efforts to increase my regularity in taking them ... as it's now becoming clear I've got some possibly permanent absorption issues and just getting over my damn self and taking the objectionable piles of supplements 2-3x a day will very likely prevent damage/complications years down the road. Some days I'm just a big ol' petulant toddler.
Anyhow, there's the more/less overall arc of the summertime. While school is usually a busier time, I do seem to have better results in scheduling my day and including more frequent & subjective thoughts on the everyday ... which, really, is the stuff I want to read back and be reminded of later. =-)
My humblest apologies is you count yourself among that increasing number.
Since it's been way too long since I wrote in this thing to even begin to cover details of the past few months, I'm just going to skip to the trailer-versions.
June - school's out, B's folks out of hospital, Girl Scout end-of-year party/awards ceremony went off well, 31st b'day come & enjoyed & gone, niece turned 4, massive preparations in full swing to get Ala off to scout camp for a week though future trips should be significantly less time/labor intensive due to several items being only necessary for initial trips or repeatedly only every 2-4 yrs, get roof replaced and manage to not draw blood.
July - Ala off to camp, recognize that I miss seeing piles of my family as it's been over 5-7 yrs for some sectors, help sis look for new housing & cope w/ BiL's medical retirement, spend 2 of 4 days w/o Ala with my 2 nieces - bringing them to Austin to sleep over, seeing movies, and visiting Zilker to ride the train, decide to plan massive Lampoon-esque road trip, plan road trip, d/w breaks so order new d/w and better fridge since it's old too, oven goes bust before d/w & fridge can even be delivered, begin road trip to MS and visit grandparents then to AR to visit grandparents /then/ to CO to visit parents, begin gaming w/ K & S, V & J, B, and maybe S in a campaign led by N though I have some doubts about my personal abilities due to inexperience in this particular style of RPG.
August - return from epic road trip having enjoyed it a ton, not killed Ala, and having tiptoed through no less than 4 brew pubs in the process, also recognize mannerism similarities between my mom & sis while also noticing (and having B & Mom point out) similarities in personality between my mom & me - all involved in discussions feel this is scientifically significant in the argument of nature vs nurture, on trip back to TX I am forced to cope w/ a completely dead laptop battery - as in after 3.5 yrs it doesn't work /at all/ anymore so about a week after return I celebrate the resurrection of my now-flooded email inbox, brainstorm for new GS year & meet w/ T twice to begin planning, enjoy an 'end of summer' outdoor movie night @ T's for the troop where she selects 'Labyrinth' from my pile of suggestions, subsequently deal with thoughts from most of my Scouts that I'm possibly odder than they first thought, enjoy 1st session of new RPG group though still uncertain of my innate ability to function well in this particular style since I'm basically a 'dungeon crawler', go to 5th grade open house & meet Ala's new teacher, take over as 'official' assistant troop leader, assume title & responsibilities of our area's service unit community service coordinator, get most of the back to school shopping done including the addition this year of bras for the child, take in sis's cat as return to 5 cat household in further assistance in dealing w/ BiL's retirement, take up Wii-Fit.
So, school starts Mon. The new cat is settling in nicely ... though she's not yet been allowed free house privileges w/ all 4 others unsupervised yet since her kitty-hysterectomy is still healing up a bit. I'm excited about Scouts and school. I'm once again reconsidering returning to school and am giving a bit more thought to /what/ since I'll pretty much have to start from scratch which actually opens up a lot of things I'd not really given much weight to before. I need to consider the oven replacement eventually ... though I'm not in the mood yet. Treatments going well, though my red #s are 'up' I am still on the flat bottom edge of tolerable and my K is yet /again/ low ... enough so that I may end up on a supplement this time through - blech. Since I'm not much one for waitintg to make a forced resolution come 12/31, I'm now personally committing in writing, publicly, to develop and cultivate a better attitude towards supplements and to make daily conscious & proactive efforts to increase my regularity in taking them ... as it's now becoming clear I've got some possibly permanent absorption issues and just getting over my damn self and taking the objectionable piles of supplements 2-3x a day will very likely prevent damage/complications years down the road. Some days I'm just a big ol' petulant toddler.
Anyhow, there's the more/less overall arc of the summertime. While school is usually a busier time, I do seem to have better results in scheduling my day and including more frequent & subjective thoughts on the everyday ... which, really, is the stuff I want to read back and be reminded of later. =-)